Shame on North Dakota

I was hoping against odds (as I often try to do with North Dakota) that you would veto the bills that restrict women’s access to abortion. Alas, my home state continues to disappoint.

I graduated from Minot State University in 1990 and could not have left the state any faster. As a young lesbian and pro-choice feminist I could not have felt more alienated and out of place in the state. My family still lives in Minot and it makes me sad and angry to travel to such a Draconian state to see them.

I was inducted into MSU’s inaugural Academic Hall of Fame in 2011 and it was bittersweet. I was honored because I had used my sociology degree in my professional life as a LGBT and feminist activist, but I had to leave the state to do that.

Your signing of these bills will do harm to many women who are unable to exercise control over when and if they have children. Shame on you and shame on North Dakota.